Self-measuring device.



A. A. BOWSER.

SELF MEASURING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR.28. 1907.

Patented Dec. 3, 19127.

ALLEN A. IBOWSER, 0F FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, ASSII GNOR T0 S. IBOWSER & C0., INC.,

` 0F FORT WAYNE,

INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

' SELF-MEASUBING nnvron.

Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1912.

Application led March 28, 1907. Serial No. 365,103.

'lo aLL w/ro'm it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLEN A. BowsnR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort lVayne, in the county of Allenand State of Indiana, have invented certain new and use-v ful Improvements vin Self-Measuring Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

The invention relates to automatic cut-offs and has for its primary obj ect to provide an improved device of the character described, which is simple and efficient, and particularly adapted to' be used for automatically stopping the action of a self-measuring pump used for drawing liquids vfrom receptacles.

To the attainment of these ends and the accomplishment of other new and 'useful objects, as will appear, the invention'consists in the features of novelty in the construetion, combination and arrangement ofthe several parts hereinafter more fully described and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings, illustrating an exemplitication of the invention, and in which- Figure 1 is a view in elevation of a portable tank carryingr a self-measuring pump provided with the invention. In this view portions of the walls ofthe tank are broken away to disclose thecut od applied to thel lower or intake end of the pump barrel. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the invention in side elevation showinghbroken parts of the tank and the pump wit which the device cooperates. In this view, the movement of the device is illustrated diagrammatically the open position of the valve and its operative parts being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the device taken on line 3 3, Fig. 2.

A convenient embodiment of the invention shows it applied to the able oil tank equipped with a self measuring device or pump, asshown in Fig. 1. This tank is particularly adapted for use in garages for-distributing oils in measured quantities to motor cars and the like.

wheel or porting in the bottom of the tank being formed as'I designated by the numeral 1*. The pump barrel 3 is provided with a suitable piston operated by any 'convenient mechanism above the top of the tank, as, for example, the rack 4 and a suitable engaging pinion carried by the operating handle 5, all these parts above the top of the tank being car? ried by a suitable supporting bracket 6.

The pump to which the invention is shown applied, although not necessarily so, is preferably of the solid piston type not illustrated, and the common suction and discharge valves with which the .pump may be provided to be operative are not shown, since they are of old and well known construction and form no part of the present invention.

When it is desired to fill the receptacle of a motor car, any desired quantity of oil may be forced from the pump through .the exhaust or discharge pipe or passage 7 through a suitable hose 8, which is preferably tlexible for convenience. The quantity of oil that is discharged by the pump is ordinarily registered by suitable mechanism designated by the numeral 9, operated by the stroke of the piston or suitable connection with the discharge mechanism of the pump. Wheel tanks of this character are not ordinarily provided with gages to disclose the quantity of oil within the tank at all times and it will be apparent that when the discharge end of the hose 8 is placed within a closed receptacle, the operator may not be made aware of the exact time when the supply of oil in the tank is exhausted and if t e operation of the pump be continued, the pumping mechanism will simply exhaust' air from the interior of the tank while istering mechanism will continue to operate as the air is exhausted. To avoid this diiiculty is one of the objects of the present invention, the preferred form of which consists primarily of the movable valve 10 adapted Vto coperate with the lower or intake end of the pump barrel and to close the 'same and so check the operation of the pump the reg# serted from into the depending member v should be member v11 isV preferably vided in its base with a suitable opening rt 'o carries at one end the valve 10, being provided with a suitable counter-sunk portion orrecess adapted -to take the depending member 10. On the lowerside of the member 12 arecess is cess 4just described on the-upper side, the two recesses communicating with each other and adapted to take a suitable screw 14 inthe lower side and threaded 10a of the valve play is preferconnections of the arm 12 to properly.

10. A sutlicient amount of ably provided between these the valve just described and permit the valve to sea-t itself Atthe opposite end of the member 12 a oat 15 is carried and may be connected to the arm in any suitable manner but a connection similar to that just described between the vvalve and the arm 12 is Iprefer'- ably provided, consistin of xan openin colmter-sunk fromboth sies of into which a dependingbranch 15" from the float is secured by the screw 16. The ioat 15 may be of any suitable material but lighter than the quantity of oil it 1s adapted to displace operate to retain the lever 12 andthe valve in the position illustrated in 'dotted lines in Fig. 2 when the. float is immersed in oil or otherli uid within the tank. When the oil surroun ing the tioat is removed to the 'degree when 1t is desired that the operation of the pump shall cease, gravity will cause the lloatto depressl the end of the lever 12 to which it" -is connected, thus elevating the v valve 10 and shutting off the supplyof oil to the operator, may

quently upon becoming 'closed inoperative even after v to thel pump barrel.

It is found that the closing of the valve 10 by the float produces a vacuum between the valve and the piston, which if maintained may-prevent the fioat buoyant power to open the valve, and cons eay remaln a supply o liquid has been placed within the tank, bringlng the level above the tioat. The maintenance of the vacuum between the valve and the pis` ton, which vacuum formed by the closing of the valve is intended only as a warning be prevented by providing the valve 10 with a -suitable relief hole or vent 17which will permit of but a relatively small intake opening, and so small that the closing' ofthe valve 10 will stop the effective pumping operation, and will in fact practicall stop the piston, so that the operator will bve warned that the liquid is exhausted and will find it impossible to do eil'ective pumping until the pump is replenished.

provided opposite the rethe arm an by those skilled in order that it may.

Y tremity of the pump from having suiicient j supply of liquid within the tank around the intake of the From an inspection of Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings it will be seen that the relative positions of the valve 10 and the'ioat controlling the same in relation to the intake o'f the pump barrel are such thatthe oat will fall and the valve 10 close upon the intake to stop the effective pumping operation before the liquid has reached the lower or' intakeend ofthe pump barrel, thus eiectively preventing any air being drawn into the pump bythe piston. When the valve -10 is closedl by the float it will be of course possible to operate the pum by pumping a small quantity of oil through the relief hole or vent 17, but this is so small andthe relative Amovement ofthe piston when the valve is closed is so slow, that the warning to the operatorA of the exhaustion of the liquid supply within the tank is effective for practical purposes as though the liquid supply were entirely cut of. 1

In order that the invention vmight be fully understood, 'the details of an embodiment thereof have `been thusnspecically described but it will be apparent that many variations may be made in the arrangement of details in the art without departlng from the purpose and spirit of the invention, and what I claim is 1. `In a device of the character described,

the combination with a pump, of a barrel Y provided with an intake lever, a valve coperating with Vsaidintake, said valve being controlled by said lever and provided? with a relief hole or vent, and a float controlling said lever.

2. Ina device of the character described, the combination with a tank, of a pump barrel, an intake port adjacent the lower eX- barrel, a lever pivotally. connected to the said barrel, a valve provided with a relief hole or vent carried at one end of the pivoted lever and adapted to coperate with the intake port and, a oat secured to the other end of the' said lever. l 3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a pump of a pump barrel provided with `an intake port, a valve coperating with said intake ort, said valve being provided with a reliei) hole or vent, and a float controlling said valve.

4. In a devicegof the character described, the combination with a tank adapted to contain liquid, a cylinder provided with a pis-` ton, there being a port1on`of the pump extending within the tank and having an intake communicat-in with the interior of the tank, and a valve adapted to close the'intake automatically when the supply of liquid within the tank reaches a predetermmed level, there being means for automatically port,v a pivoted tain liquid, of a pump having relieving the vacuum between the pump piston andthe valve when the valve is close consisting of a constantly open passageway between the interior of the tank and the interior of the pump cylinder;

5. In a device of the character described, the combination with a tank adapted to conafcylinder provided with a piston, there being a portion of the pump extending within the tank and having an intake communicating with the interior of the tank, and a valve adapted to close the intake automatically when the supply of liquid within the tank reaches a predetermined level, there being means for automatically relieving the vacuum between the ump piston and the valve when the valve l1s closed consisting of a constantly open passage way in the valve extending between the K interior of the tank and the interior of the pump cylinder.

-`liquid adjacent the pump 6. In a device of the character described, the combination with a pump, of a pump barrel provided with an intake port, a valve cooperating with said intake port to close the same automatically when the supply of barrel reaches a predetermined level, there being means for relieving the'vacunm between the pump piston and the valve when the Vvalve is closed, consisting of a constantly open passage way or vent between the interior of the pump barrel and its exterior.

' In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this Q'th day of March A. D. 1907.

S. B. BECHTEL, W. G. ZAHRT. 

